Petroleum Traders Corporation

1979 – today

Founded: 1979 (business start), Fort Wayne — stated as a company claim, with a distinct incorporation record flagged. The company's own profile text, reproduced across its employer and industry profiles, states "Since 1979, our focus has been on delivering… wholesale gasoline and wholesale diesel fuels" and "Since our founding in 1979 Petroleum Traders Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana has grown to become the largest pure gasoline wholesaler… in the United States"; the 2016 Largest Indiana Private Companies list (IBJ research) independently gives Founded: 1979, Fort Wayne address, Michael B. Himes, CEO. Formation-date conflict, carried, not merged: a Kentucky Secretary of State annual report for the corporation (filed 27 Jan 2025, state of origin Indiana) gives Formation date: 6 June 1983. That is printed here as a corporate-formation record that post-dates the claimed 1979 business start by four years — a common start-vs-incorporation gap, but on the sources in hand the reconciliation is not established, and no Indiana incorporation record was retrieved. 1983 is not stated as the founding, and 1979 is not confirmed.

Founder: beyond a headline. Michael B. Himes is named as the firm's president and CEO — the 2016 Indiana list names "Michael B. Himes, CEO," the Kentucky filing lists him as president/director, and a Fort Wayne bonsai profile calls him "president and CEO of Petroleum Traders Corporation." That same bonsai article's headline calls him the "Petroleum Trader founder," but its body never calls him founder and gives no founding account. Founder attribution to Himes is therefore carried as a headline lead only, no other founder is named in any source worked.

What it did: A pure wholesale fuel supplier — wholesale gasoline, diesel, heating oil, biodiesel and ethanol, plus firm/fixed-price programmes and fuel inventory management, sold to transportation and commercial fleets, jobbers/distributors and government customers, with no retail stations of its own in the record in hand. The company describes itself as the largest pure wholesale fuel supplier in the United States (company claim, printed as a claim).

Course: Trading in 39 states on the Hoover's-style profile and the company's Fayetteville bid account ("supply points in 39 states nationwide"; accounts with 90% of large and independent U.S. refiners in that bid text — company bid claims, printed as claims). Scale at the 2016 list: 139 employees, ~$1.7 billion revenue (2016; $2.8 billion shown as the prior-year comparative in the same table's layout — the table is internally garbled in transcription, so only the 2016 $1.7B / 139-employee pairing is carried). Headquarters throughout the record in hand is 7120 Pointe Inverness Way, Fort Wayne, IN 46804. Federal course in the contract record: a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Energy indefinite-delivery contract holder, with delivery orders for gasoline, diesel and ethanol to military customers in the Fort Wayne region running through the parent IDIQ valued at up to ~$42 million through July 2027 in the GovTribe summaries worked (printed as contract-record summaries, not as audited revenue).

Fate: Still operating. The January 2025 Kentucky annual report lists the corporation active with its Fort Wayne principal office and Himes as president; the DLA delivery orders worked run into 2025 under contracts extending to 2027. No closure, sale or renaming was found in any source worked.

Sources:

1. Petroleum Traders company profile via OilMonster (company text: "Since 1979… largest pure wholesale fuel supplier in the United States… over a billion gallons supplied each year"; 7120 Pointe Inverness Way address) — https://www.oilmonster.com/company/petroleum-traders/65183
2. Petroleum Traders employer profile, National Association of Sales Professionals (company-supplied text: "Since our founding in 1979 Petroleum Traders Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana…"; clients, products and price-management programmes) — https://nasp-jobs.careerwebsite.com/profile/petroleum-traders-corporation/590658/
3. Largest Indiana Private Companies list, ranked by 2016 revenue (IBJ research, via DocsLib: Petroleum Traders Corp., $1.7 billion, 139 employees, 7120 Pointe Inverness Way, Fort Wayne, Michael B. Himes CEO, founded 1979) — https://docslib.org/download/1113711/largest-indiana-private-companies-ranked-by-2016-revenue
4. Kentucky Secretary of State, Petroleum Traders Corporation annual report for 2025, filed 27 Jan 2025 (state of origin Indiana; formation date 6 June 1983; Fort Wayne principal office; Michael Himes president/director; Linda Stephens, Glen Moonen, Brian Townsend officers/directors as listed) — https://web.sos.ky.gov/corpscans/99/0178499-09-99999-20250127-ARP-11338601-PU.pdf
5. Post & Mail / Whitley County bonsai profile (headline calls Himes the founder; body calls him president and CEO only — cited for exactly that distinction; Himes's bonsai collection at the corporate campus; Fort Wayne Bonsai Club caretaker) — https://www.inwhitleycounty.com/petroleum-trader-founder-collects-ancient-bonsai-trees/article_0e147c6d-a319-57bb-a294-25511b04ac58.html
6. GovTribe, DLA Energy delivery order record (Petroleum Traders Corp, veteran-owned small business, Fort Wayne; parent IDIQ valued at over $42 million through July 2027 for diesel, gasoline and ethanol) — https://govtribe.com/award/federal-contract-award/delivery-order-spe60521d8515-spe60524fwe4q